Noel Coward's brand of comedy has never really appealed to me, and much of the comedy and incidents in this film are too predictable to be truly amusing. Where it does score is by having the wonderfully dotty Margaret Rutherford in the role of Madame Arcati, a crackpot medium who inadvertently calls Rex Harrison's first wife (Kay Hammond) back from the dead, much to the annoyance of his second wife (Constance Cummings).
I found Harrison to be quite annoying throughout this film. Not only did his voice grow increasingly irritating as the film went on, but his character seemed to be very poorly developed. One moment he seems happily married to second wife Ruth while also eventually being delighted to be re-united with Elvira, the next he can't seem to wait to be rid of the pair of them so that he can enjoy some newly-found bachelorhood. Perhaps I was missing something, my concentration wavered at times as the film struggled to hold my attention.
The production values are quite high for a mid-forties British film, and Hammond's simple but effective ghost make-up is quite impressive. It's just a shame that, by the end of the film you can't help feeling they all deserve to be stuck with each other for eternity
I found Harrison to be quite annoying throughout this film. Not only did his voice grow increasingly irritating as the film went on, but his character seemed to be very poorly developed. One moment he seems happily married to second wife Ruth while also eventually being delighted to be re-united with Elvira, the next he can't seem to wait to be rid of the pair of them so that he can enjoy some newly-found bachelorhood. Perhaps I was missing something, my concentration wavered at times as the film struggled to hold my attention.
The production values are quite high for a mid-forties British film, and Hammond's simple but effective ghost make-up is quite impressive. It's just a shame that, by the end of the film you can't help feeling they all deserve to be stuck with each other for eternity